Reforestation Tools

Climate-Adapted Seed Tool (CAST) – CAST helps ecosystem managers identify nearby seed sources that are better adapted to local climate conditions. Trees that are well-adapted to their climate grow faster and experience higher survival. In contrast, local seed sources tend to be adapted to past climate conditions, resulting in reduced growth and survival. CAST currently serves five western US states (CA, OR, WA, ID, & NV), though some features are limited to California.

Postfire Conifer Reforestation Planning Tool (PostCRPT) – Large and severe wildfires are leaving vast areas devoid of natural conifer regeneration. PostCRPT predicts natural conifer regeneration after forest fires and aids managers in postfire reforestation planning. The custom-input version of PostCRPT allows users to make prediction within weeks after a fire and includes taxon-specific regeneration predictions and a range of postfire climate and seed production scenarios. The preprocessed version of PostCRPT allows users to simply select a fire and see mapped predictions, interact with a simple and customizable planning interface, and download spatial data. This is a supplement to our paper on postfire conifer regeneration. PostCRPT currently serves California and Western Oregon.

Postfire Reforestation Success Estimation Tool (PReSET) – The areas in need of post-fire reforestation far exceed the resources managers have for planting. It is critical to understand where tree planting is most likely to be effective at achieving restoration goals so that limited resources can be put to use most effectively. PReSET allows managers to predict postfire reforestation outcomes and planting benefit after wildfires that occur in Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests.

Other Resources – We’re experiencing a renaissance in the development of evidence-based decision support resources and tools! Here’s a directory of some of them.